Animated mechanical toy



June 10, 1952 w STRAUSS 2,600,340

ANIMATED MECHANICAL TOY Filed March 8, 1950 INVENTOR. M4715? L. 577/4055 Patented June 10, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ANIMATEDMECHANICAL TOY Walter L. Strauss, New York, N. Y. Application March 8,1950, Serial No. 148,458

11 Claims. 1

This invention relates to animated mechanical toys, particularly to atoy comprising a pair of figures joined for movement relative to eachother.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a novel and improvedanimated mechanical toy of the general type, above referred to, whichoffers a new and surprising play effect.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved toythe two figures of which are so joined together that they appear to playor fight with each other for the possession of an article.

Another object of the invention is to provide two animal figures eachgrasping the same article and so activated that they appear to strugglefor the possession of the said article.

Another more specific object of the invention is to provide a toy thetwo animal figures of which are in form of dogs having bitten in thesame piece of meat or in sausages and so activated that they willperform varied and abrupt movements relative to each other. As a result,the impression is created as if the dogs were fighting for the sausagesor the meat.

Another object of the invention is to provide a toy of the general type,above referred to, one figure of which has a tail which can make waggingmotions.

Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention willbe pointed out hereinafter and set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing several now preferred embodiments of theinvention are shown by way of illustration and not by way of limitation.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevational sectional view of a toy according to theinvention showing the two figures in a relative position which may beassumed to be an inactive position.

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top view showing the two figures in an intermediate oractivated position.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view showing a modi' fied detail of the toy, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view showing another modification of the detailaccording to Fig. 4.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 3 in detail, these figures show anembodiment of the invention comprising two hollow figures l and 2representing crouching dogs. The dog figures may be made of any suitablematerial such as sheet metal and have a substantially flat base withwhich they can be placed upon an appropriate base for instance a table.The two dogs are joined in positions facing each other and spaced apartby means of a drive shaft 3 rotatably passed through openings in themouth portions of the dogs. Shaft 3 is rotated by any suitable drivemeans such as a spring actuated movement 4 mounted within dog I.Inasmuch as this movement may be of conventional design, a detaileddescription does not appear to be essential for the understanding of theinvention. It suffices to say that the movement is wound by means of akey fitted upon a winding stem 5. Conventional brake means may of coursealso be provided.

According to the invention, the otherwise rigid shaft is provided with aflexible insert 6. This insert extends substantially from mouth to mouthof the dogs and is joined with the left and right hand rigid sections ofthe shaft so that the entire shaft is revolved by movement 4. Theflexible insert may take any suitable shape and may be made of anymaterial appropriate for the purpose. It may be of metal, for instancein form of a coil spring or of a material such as rubber. In the presentinstance, the outer shape-ancl preferably also the coloring-of theinsert simulates a string of sausages. This string may be formed forinstance by covering a coil spring or by employing a correspondinglyshaped rubber element. The insert is preferably s0 biased that it alwaystends to assume the substantially straight position shown in Figs. 1 and2.

The toy further comprises a pair of running Wheels 9 and 10, one foreach dog. The two wheels are fixedly mounted on shaft 3 for rotation inunison therewith and are so positioned that they protrude with part oftheir rim through an opening II and I2 respectively in the base of dogsI and 2 respectively.

As will be noted, the two wheels are mounted transversely to the axis ofshaft 3 and hence to the longitudinal axis of the two dogs assuming thesame are in aligned position. However, it should be understood that thewheels may also be mounted at an angle other than a angle relative tothe aforesaid axes. I

Shaft 3 is preferably extended through the rear end of dog 2 and ahollow body l3 in form of dog tail is fitted upon bent-off shaft section14 so that it will rotate together with the shaft.

The function of a mechanical and animated toy, as hereinbeforedescribed, i as follows:

Let it be assumed that the spring movement is wound and that the twodogs are placed upon a table with the insert 6 in' substantiallystraight position. If the two dogs are now released with the two runningWheels 9 and I0 revolving in clockwise direction, wheel 9 will tend tomove dog I in counterclockwise direction and wheel ID will tend to movedog 2 in clockwise direction. As

a result, the two dogs approach one or the other as is shown in Fig. 3.Simultaneously, insert 6 is bent and, hence, tensioned. Finally, thetension of insert 6 will overcome the propulsion by wheels 9 and I andwill snap back the dogs into or toward a substantially aligned positionwhereupon the two dogs again begin to approach each other. It will beapparent that the relative movements of the dogs, particularly upon asmooth table, will be rather abrupt and irregular. Due to the snapaction of insert 6, the dogs appear to jump around so that theimpression is created as if the dogs were struggling for the possessionof the string of sausages. Furthermore, the rotation of tail element l4will create the impression as if dog 2 be wagging its tail.

According to the embodiment of Fig. 4, a running wheel Ill is idlingupon shaft 3.

Fig. shows a modification in which a running wheel I5 is fixedly mountedon a rotatable shaft which is coupled with shaft 3 by gears H and i8 sothat the rotational direction of wheel I5 is opposite to the rotationaldirection of wheel 9.

It will be apparent that the wheel arrangements according to Figs, 4 and5 will have an efiect similar to the one described in connection withFigs. 1 to 3 but the relative movements of the dogs will be somewhatdifferent.

While the invention has been described in connection with an embodimentshowing two crouch ing dogs struggling for the possession of a string ofsausages, various modifications of the basic idea of joining two figuresby a flexible member and of providing cross wheels may be employed, manyof which suggest themselves. For instance, two standing dogs may beshown fighting for a bone or the figures may be in shape of cats playingwith a soft ball. It is of course also possible to show human figures,for instance two children playing with or fighting for a toy. It willfurther be apparent that the running wheel of do 2 may be omitted. Then,the propulsion of dog I will drag dog 2 along though lagging behinduntil the snap action of insert 6 become effective to overcome thefriction between dog 2 and the surface upon which it is placed.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An animated mechanical toy comprising two bodies each in form of afigure, a flexible elongated member biased to assume a substantiallystraight position and connected at each end to one of said bodies forjoining the same spaced apart, a running wheel on each of said bodiesprotruding from the base of the respective body, each of said wheelsbeing fixedly mounted in a position in which its plane of rotation is atan angle relative to the axis of the elongated member when the saidmember is in its straight position, and drive means disposed on one ofsaid bodies and operatively coupled with at least one of said wheels forrotating the same.

2. An animated mechanical toy comprising two bodies each in form of afigure, a rotatable drive shaft extending from one of said figures tothe other joining the figures spaced apart, the section of the driveshaft between the two figures being made of a fiexible material biasedto assume a substantially straight position the remainder of the shaftbeing rigid, a pair of running wheels mounted on said shaft transverselyto the axis thereof, each of said wheels being mounted on one of thefigures and positioned protruding from the base of the respectivefigure, and drive means disposed on one of said figures and coupled withthe shaft for rotating the same, one of said wheels being fixed to theshaft for rotation in unison therewith.

3. A mechanical toy as described in claim 2, wherein the running wheelof the figure with the drive means is fixed to the shaft, the otherwheel being an idler.

4. A mechanical toy as described in claim 2, wherein both the wheels aremounted for rotation by the shaft.

5. A mechanical toy as described in claim 4, in combination with a geartrain reversing the rotational direction of one of the wheels relativeto the rotation of the other wheel.

6. A mechanical toy as described in claim 2, wherein each of said bodiesis in form of an animal figure, said flexible shaft section extendingapproximately from mouth to mouth of said animal figures.

7. A mechanical toy as described in claim 6, wherein said flexible shaftsection is in form of a food article.

8. A mechanical toy as described in claim '7, wherein said flexibleshaft section has a shape and design simulating a string of sausages.

9. A mechanical toy as described in claim 2, wherein each of said bodiesis in form of a hollow animal figure, said drive means and said runningwheels being disposed Within the respective hollow body, and whereinsaid rotatable shaft is extended to protrude beyond the rear end of thefigure other than the other one housing the drive means, and wherein ahollow body in a shape simulating an animal tail is secured to saidprotruding shaft end for rotation in unison therewith.

10. A mechanical toy as described in claim 2, wherein said protrudingshaft end supporting said tail body is bent off to form an angle withthe general shaft axis for simulating wagging movements of an animaltail.

11. An animated mechanical toy comprising two hollow figures of animalsof the quadruped kind, a rotatable drive shaft extending from one animalfigure to the other joining the same spaced apart, said shaft beingpassed through the mouth portions of the figures, the section of theshaft between the two figures being made of flexible material in form ofa food article the remainder of the shaft being rigid, a pair of runningwheels each mounted transversely to the axis of the shaft and positionedwithin one of the figures protruding from the base thereof, a springactuated movement mounted within one of the figures and coupled with theshaft for rotation thereof, the said wheels being secured to the shaftfor rotation in unison therewith, said shaft being extended to protrudethrough the rear end of the figure other than the one housing saidmovement, said protruding shaft end being bent off to form an angle withthe shaft axis, and a body in form of an animal tail disposed on saidbent-off shaft portion for rotation therewith.

WALTER L. STRAUSS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,017,066. Weigel Feb. 13, 19121,212,332 Ensign et a1 Jan. 16,191? 1,552,314 Kohl e Sept. 1, 1925

